Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Ropers Can’t Tie Knots
SERIES: Kissing Ridge Cowboys
AUTHOR: R.M. Neill
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 289 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 26, 2025
BLURB:
I’ve got 99 problems, but a fake marriage shouldn’t be one of them.
Hunter Burke
Everyone knows my grandfather was a less than savoury human, but I didn’t think he’d stick it to me in new ways after he died.
I need a husband to claim my inheritance and the sexy new lawyer in town volunteers to step in.
A fake marriage is the easiest solution to my problem.
Besides, it’s only temporary, and it comes with perks.
It’s a simple business transaction. No feelings and no fuss.
He’s city and I’m country. He’s Lexus and I’m a beat-up pickup truck. We couldn’t be more different if we tried.
So why does my chest hurt when I think of him leaving when our time is up?
Gabe Davis
Hunter Burke needs help and I’m just the guy to do it. We have a mutually beneficial deal and it’s practically foolproof.
Pretending to be married to the smoking hot cowboy is no hardship. He’s pure sex appeal on horseback.
What is hard, though, is faking how much I’m liking farm life.
Horses are actually cool, and even the groundhog has grown on me. Porch swing chats are my new favourite thing and my city life is rapidly becoming a distant memory.
This arrangement has an end date, and divorce papers approaching way too quickly. We were supposed to leave feelings out of this, but I think I’m breaking that rule.
I want to keep my husband.
How do I convince him we aren’t so different at all and his chest pain might be love?
Ropers Can’t Tie Knots is a fake marriage, opposites attract, strangers to lovers romance between a cowboy with barbed wire around his heart and a lawyer searching for a place to fit. Chats on the porch in the rain, pining for your husband and so much swoon you’ll need to read laying down.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the third book in this series and has spoilers for the previous books 🙂
Oh man! I loved these two. Talk about two guys who had been through it.
Hunter is dealing with the continued mistreatment by his dead grandfather years after his death, forcing him to jump through hoops to hold onto the family ranch and then forcing him to marry to get the rest of the inheritance. In the meantime he’s lost everything except the ranch – his rodeo career, his livestock business, etc. The having to be married to get the money is nearly a bridge too far. He’s lost his parents and his grandmother, his buffer and for years he tried to make the best of things at the ranch, but his grandfather was a raging homophobe and even had in his will that if Hunter DOESN’T marry, the estate will go to an anti-LGBTQIA+ organization 🙁 He can’t let that happen.
Gabe is ready to leave his city life behind. Riley, his best friend has ended up in Kissing Ridge and he’s got a wonderful guy – who happens to be Hunter’s best friend. When the local lawyer is ready to move on, Gabe decides to move from his city life to be closer to his best friend and the new circle of friends that he’s come to know as Riley and Jackson were getting together. He’s tired of the rat race and being passed over. He’s a city guy, but he wants to change his life. Gabe has a guest room at his house and when the rental Gabe had counted on falls through, Riley and Jackson offer Hunter’s room. LOL! It’s not like Hunter could say no.
When Gabe moves in, he’s afraid of the animals, he’s dressed in suits and he’s not really fitting into town life. Hunter helps him out and he also offers to help with the will stuff. Hunter is still trying to figure out what to do about it after Gabe has explained the requirements. He goes to Riley who suggests that he and Gabe just get married. As a convenience that won’t be that hard to sell since Gabe is already living there.
Gabe agrees and they have an “arrangement” of sorts. But the chemistry is sizzling just beneath the surface. And they neither want to go without sex for a year. So they have a “no strings” deal. Except of course – strings. And Gabe is already getting attached. And much to his chagrin, so is Hunter 😉
These guys! As Hunter and Gabe get closer, we discover that both are truly on their own. Hunter in particular has abandonment issues made worse by the fact that his grandfather TRIED to hurt him. Gabe has been through a lot of loss too. While he became a successful lawyer, things didn’t start out to great for him either. He’s got baggage too 🙁 The longer they are together, the more honest they get with each other. But there is still a lot of fear. It takes some real courage for these two to find their way forward and make a real life together after a fake marriage. They really take a chance with each other 😀
I loved all of the supporting characters here – Margie and Penny and Riley and friends. Also Diamond BETTER get a book 😉 This series is getting better and better with each book. This one is a heartbreaking/heartwarming tale that I think is really well written. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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